Lone Ranger rides at Santa Anita

My friend Randy e-mailed a photo to me Friday morning of an old 1880s Western-style train car. He told me the new Disney movie version of “The Lone Ranger” starring Johnny Depp as Tonto is shooting right next door to his office in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the train car was plainly visible.

Photo my friend Randy took Friday next to his office building in Albuquerque, NM

I said, what a coincidence because “The Lone Ranger” is shooting right across the street from my office here in Arcadia too — at least they are setting up a giant 48-foot-tall green screen (it’s actually blue) for a second unit to film some visual effects shots for the movie for a couple weeks in September once they get finished with the structure. Another 60-foot green screen is supposed to be built in Acton on the north side of the mountains. Most of the principal photography for the movie scheduled to open on July 3, 2013, has been in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah all year. (Armie Hammer has the title Kimosabe role.)

Photo I took across the street from my office in Arcadia Friday

But making it even more strange, when I took a closer look across the street, I saw the exact same train car sitting here at Santa Anita as Randy was looking at in Albuquerque, so I sent him a photo of nearly the same thing he had just sent to me.

I’m told that there are two over-sized train cars being built along with a ramp in to one and out of the other. A horse is to run into the first car and run between the passengers, jump into the second car and do the same thing before running down the ramp on the other side.

No doubt the scenes on the train in the movie will take place neither in Albuquerque or Arcadia, but we have the photos to prove they were in both places at the same time.

— By Scott Hettrick

Other side of train car in New Mexico - photo by Randall Reeves

Train car at left of giant green (blue) screen being built in parking lot of Santa Anita race track to use for inserting computer visual effects behind the train or any other action in front of the screen.